Page 33 of Grand Master

I DON’T FALL, I CLAIM…

The hum of machines filled the vast chamber, steady and low like a pulse beneath the earth.

The sound itself always pumped life into my thoughts, especially whenever I went into creative mode.

My laboratory stretched out in every direction.

Nemesis and I sat behind one of the small rows of flowers that glowed under the new industrial lights that I just got installed.

I eyed my stainless-steel counters that glinted with glass vials and monitors. Nemesis moved easily through the space. He was dressed in his signature white coat. The scent of clove and sandalwood drifted from him and filled up the space we occupied.

Nemesis was a man of precision; he avoided errors in everything that he did. If it was anybody else that showed up abruptly to Grand Corp, with no invite, they would have been dead. Nemesis hated coming to America, whenever he did come, he made sure that he went under the radar.

“How’s Prophecy?” I asked.

He carefully trailed his hand over a tray of beakers.

“You’ve outdone yourself,” he said in his new heavy accent. Nemesis smoothly ignored the question about his wife. He would answer soon, but it would be on his own timing.

Right now, what held his attention was the tremendous upgrades and expansions that I made in my laboratory. It had been over five years since he last saw it.

“The garden, lab, as well as your operations is more than commerce. It is legacy. You’re building a future, Kenric… a future that most men will never touch.” He looked up from the tray and smiled.

I nodded once, though my eyes flicked down to my watch for the fifth time in minutes.

Mira.

I adjusted my cuff, forcing my focus back to Nemesis. I was sure he noticed he never missed a beat.

“My wife is well, of course she sends air hugs and kisses. I’ll be heading back soon as I leave here.” He said walking over to my big monitors.

“She’s about to give birth in three months. I think we have enough kids to start our own tribe in Africa.” He chuckled.

“This is baby number six?” I smiled.

“No, eight.” He quickly corrected me.

“I don’t plan on slowing down either. Once I’m done with my next project and Prophecy body heals properly, I plan on getting her pregnant again.” He said turning away from the monitors.

Africa had given Nemesis the freedom, space, and endless subjects to test his brilliance on. He if stayed in America, his life span would have been cut short. Which was another reason, he barely stepped foot on Americans soil.

“You seem restless,” he said, running his hands through his wild wavy hair that hung past his shoulders.

“This is not like you.” He bent down reaching for a briefcase at his feet.

“I didn’t want much, just wanted to check on you after I touched basis with my brother Dreamer. He’s been busy in what I like to call the matrix. Do you mind?” His eyes flicked towards a counter that set between us.

“Go ahead.” I nodded.

Saying nothing else, Nemesis placed the metallic briefcase on top of the counter. I sat up in my seat and looked on as he clicked it open. He lifted a large bottle, shaped like an old-world decanter. Inside the thick glass was midnight blue liquid that faintly glowed.

“What is that?” I asked, brows furrowed.

“A gift from me to you. It’s already been tested; I have small bottles that you will need to separate it carefully in. This will last you for two years, I also have its ingredients on a disk for you to make on your own.” Nemesis stated with pride.

“What does it supposed to do for me.” Now he had all of my attention.

“It’s a stabilizer, a formula that I perfected in Lagos. You can call it a mood harmonizer. It will move through your body slowly, binding itself to your neurons, balancing your highs and lows. One dose, and you won’t need to smoke for weeks at a time.” Nemesis smiled and held it out.

I reached out; my fingertips brushed the cool glass.

“How do I ingest it?”

“You drink it,” He stated simply.

“A small ounce now, another ounce in precisely three weeks in a half from today. Theres no side effects beyond clarity. It will not make you less, Kenric, it will make you more.” He stated with so much conviction; I almost instantly believed him.

“Why did you make this for me?” I asked, struggling to accept the kind gesture.

I trusted Nemesis, there were no second thoughts about taking what he created for me.

Tone cared about me; even said he loved me a few times.

He sacrificed a lot of his time to make sure that I was okay.

Nemesis was the person responsible for helping me perfect my scientific lab flower.

He further instructed me, took the time to teach me when he had no obligations to do so.

I struggled with thinking that maybe one day the people that claimed to care and do things for me would change overnight.

Like my mom did. In Pops eyes she never changed because he was always high out of his mind, and maintaining his rulership over the streets.

I was the one that took the biggest blow to my already fragile young heart.

One day, I had a loving mom that shared the same love for creating…to a mom that change with a snap of her fingers. The vile things she started to say out of pure hurt from my pops not loving her correctly. To the drugs controlling her moods. Then my parent’s death.

“I have seen you fight your own fire, Kenric. This is more than business. Believe it or not, I view you as my brother. I only come to this watered-down country for two people…that’s Dreamer Davinchi Davis, and Kenric Love Mastiff.

You know, I risk my life to travel… I love my life now that I have Prophecy and my beautiful kids in it.

I risk my life because I do not want to see you fall to your own mind, sadness, and trauma while I am alive.

You’ve found purpose…I see it, and now that I see you in the flesh, I can feel it. ” Nemesis smiled.

For a moment, silence stretched between us.

“Tell me, Kenric…Why the watch? What is it that’s cutting our visit short this evening?” He asked.

I set the bottle carefully down on the counter and glanced back down at my watch. Mira’s face effortlessly popped into my mind. Her eyes big and innocent, her angelic voice…I couldn’t wait to see her in that silk black gown.

“A woman.” I finally said.

Nemesis took a seat across from me and chuckled.

“Undone by beauty.” Nemesis nodded his head in approval, but I had to correct him.

“Not undone…Obsessed.” I said.

His brows rose as he let my words hang in the air.

“And what is obsession but love without balance?” He asked.

“It’s more than love. It’s need. I watched her once and felt my world slow down. Hearing her play, my impulses stopped. My storms cleared. She made me laugh without trying. With her, I think about tomorrow when all I’ve ever lived for was tonight.”

Nemesis studied me, weighing my words against science itself.

“And what do you want from her?”

I looked at the glowing bottle, then back at him.

“I want her to fall in love, so that when she realizes she belongs to me, it’s not chains that keep her here…it will be her own heart.” I stated honestly.

I did everything with force, and control. I planned on using my methods with Mira yet something inside of me tugged differently. Her name alone made something coil in my chest. I locked eyes with Nemesis’s gleaming eyes before he spoke.

“Will you fall? There’s so much confliction that I see in your eyes, my brother.”

I shook my head confidently.

“I don’t fall, I claim…and, love? I told myself when I was thirteen that it wasn’t shit unless it tethered to control.

Because love without ownership has been proven to be chaos in my world.

It burns too fast until there’s nothing left but ashes and regret.

The love that I thought I wanted to experience, submits to your name like my momma did with Pops.

” I shook my head roughly then swallowed down the lump in my throat that showed a sign of my emotions swirling inside of me.

“The twist that fucks me up, Nemesis is that Mira makes me question my own code. Not because she’s weak or easy to break…

to me she’s the opposite. She’s soft in all the right places.

Her spirit is untamed… I don’t just feel peace from her playing her treasured violin, and it’s not just wrapped in silence.

It’s how she looks at me… her big owl-like eyes are always full of hope.

I crave her, and it's not just her body. I already know I could own that. It’s her simply breathing next to me, she makes the demons in my head shut the fuck up.

I just want her to choose me now. Choose me with her heart, body, and soul.

I never had a person simply just choose me. ” I said the last part lowly.

I felt the sting in my eyes and refused to blink to showcase the raw emotions that I felt getting ready to spill out of me.

“That’s deep but will you still want to own her. Will you chain?—”

“I’ll still own her.” I cut Nemesis off.

“It won’t be the kind of ownership that chains her down and keeps her locked away. It will be the kind that makes her beg to never leave.” I answered.

“Will you leave though? You can’t claim you actually leave this place because you go out to take care of business by saving people on the streets of L.A. If she’s everything you say she is…she probably wouldn’t want to be forced to love you with her heart, body, and soul here.” Nemesis replied.

“I’ve thought of that while moving the pieces around on my chess board.”

“What was the answer that came to you?”

“I’m willing to have a lot of first-time experiences with Mira…even if it includes leaving here from time to time.”